This week Eric welcomes author and journalist Madhusree Mukerjee to the program to discuss her groundbreaking 2010 book Churchill's Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India During World War II. Madhusree discusses her personal and ideological motivations for writing the book, as well as exploring what the Bengal famine and British imperial policy say about the nature of imperialism and colonialism in India and throughout the world. Eric and Madhusree also bring the issues forward our time by probing how the same agricultural policies, engendered by capitalism and profit, are helping to exacerbate poverty, dispossession, and environmental degradation today. Eric and Madhusree don't shy away from debating the legacies of Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose, and the role of India and the emerging non-Western powers today.
In the second part of the show, Eric is joined by Danny Haiphong, a Boston-based political activist and columnist for Black Agenda Report, to discuss his recent piece on self-determination and political movement-building in the US and the Western world. The conversation touches on current trends, as well as historical exemplars such as the Black Panther Party. Eric and Danny also examine what revolutionary movement-building requires, and what it will look like given the current political and economic climate. All this and much more on this week's CounterPunch Radio.
Musical Interludes: "Jara cafe te more te bose acho" by Unknown & "Sove Peyi Mwen" by Freedom
Intro and Outtro: "Freight Train Rollin'" by David Vest